There
is another short group that we need to talk
about. You probably ran into this group
in your counting practice from the preceding
lesson. This group is called the "Intro."
"Intro" is an abbreviation for
"The Introduction." This grouping
of bars is usually shorter than the "Head"
or the "Bridge" and it occurs
at the beginning of the song. When you were
counting songs you may have heard some "Intro's"
that confused your counting of 8 bars. The
"Intro" is usually 4 to 8 bars
long and most commonly based on the last
4 or 8 bars of a song. Do not confuse the
"Intro" with the "Head."
The "Head" is always the main
melody line of a song. The "Head"
is usually the first notes of a song written
by a composer and the rest of the song is
constructed around the "Head."

Let's
look at some common forms with and without
an "Intro."

Form
without "Intro."

(A) (A) (B) (A)Form with "Intro."

(Intro) (A) (A) (B)
(A)

Songs
that include vocals are very commonly written
in the form example above with an "Intro."
In a song with vocals, (A) is called
the "Verse" and (B) is
called the "Chorus."

It
should be noted that when a song is in the
form (A) (A) (B) (A),
the first 2 (A) usually have slightly
different endings for the last few measures
in each group. This is not always true, but
it is a common enough form that we should
learn about it. In this case the form would
look like: